A tag? Where? Who? Me?

I was tagged by Shannon the other day which was very sweet of her. I procrastinated replying cause I thought I had to do a whole bunch of html code etc - and well you don't - cut and paste and voila!

I am supposed to tag 7 more people. But I seriously follow 16 blogs - remember a couple of weeks ago I wanted something that would check blogs for updates and then let me know about updates. Well blogger evidently has that - I AM IN LOVE WITH IT AND WANT TO MARRY IT. It forces me to log in (and maybe even write something myself) and then I can see who else has updated.

I'll tag any blog that updates frequently and has photos - something I lack!

Motivated!

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to meet and hear Mike Lipkin and his great motivational speech entitled One Life, One Meeting. The premise is improving how engaged you are in each meeting and elevating your listening with the goal being having everyone win and reach their goals.

The one question that was asked of me was "What percent of the time are you at your personal best?" I am pretty sure he said at work. I had described that time as enthusiastic. I thought about it - I was in the room with all of my co-workers and supervisors. My answer was less than 20%. Just one day a week. And how much of that time are you miserable. about the same and the rest I am just showing up. It was hard to admit that but harder to be dishonest. Mike (the speaker - were like that now - on first name basis) asked my co-workers if it were true and they agreed. That interaction has been on my mind the rest of the week.

People - always say what would you do if you knew you could not fail. Stay at home in my jammies sounds so pathetic?

The rest of his conversation (that's what it was - it was not a speech) was just as thought provoking. He had a way of drawing you out without you feeling as though you were on the spot. I highly recommend hearing Mike speak if you ever have the chance. And I leave you with this thought - "when the fire goes out, that is when the predators come in."

Summer of 08 - Goes out with a bang!!

So I finished off the summer of 08 with a great great weekend.

Friday - Ernie was due to work a 24 hour shift and I had lots of fun plans (keep reading) so Diesel went to his grandparents for the weekend! After work, I picked up some stuff that I had gotten from Freecycle (always cool to get something for free that you need or want!) I got one of those metal scalp massager thingies only this one vibrates. LOVE. Then I stopped and got a pedicure it had been months since my last one so this was needed. Headed to the grocery - where I picked up some ingredients to make these. I found it at Amy's magazine . If you do not read Amy's magazine then you are totally missing out on all that is cool in the crafting world. I substituted spearmint leaves for the coconut cause I am not a fan of coconut in foods (suntan lotion, yes - pina colada, yes - food NO) and also I forgot the sesame seeds (that is what you get when you shop from memory. I spent about 2 hours putting them together because this was my first attempt. I took them to the _ _ _ _ (keep reading) Saturday and they were a hit.

Saturday morning - I was up at 5:30, getting ready, getting the car packed and getting out the door for a fun filled Saturday. First on the agenda the Yard Sale at the Bowie Stadium. There I scored so much good stuff!! Biggest excitement was 5 pieces of my mom's china not place settings but serving pieces all for $25.00 (I made a very rookie mistake and one piece is chipped (BAD) I don't know how I missed it - I think because I never see her china I was so excited I forgot to check for the obvious) I am saving it for Christmas (so don't tell her) I also got some books - Janet Evanovich's new one, and Martha's halloween one, and a new pocketbook for me. SO much good stuff - my arms were killing me from carrying it all. I did not leave there until 9:45 so I headed to the crop. I got to Parville about 10:30 so had 30 minutes to hit the yardsales there. But there was a flea market up there - a big one at the Putty Hill Park. I walked around there and only found a few things. Needless to say I was a little late getting to the crop. When I arrived, I had to go to the bathroom and I was dying of thirst but I still managed to hit the swap table first. I picked up a few things - Kathy V was cleaning out big time and had a lot of great bargains. The crop itself was fun fun fun as usual. It is always great to catch up with everyone, see new projects and ideas and hopfully get something done. I had a list of about 5 things to work on and got to about 3. I got home and was pooped.

Sunday, I already blogged about my morning and a great new blog I had found.

In the afternoon, Ernie and I went to the Sunday in the Country concert featuring Sugarland. It was awesome - It looks like she was singing right to me right - yes we were in the front row. I love all of their songs and had really hoped to get a chance to see them in concert.

It was every bit as good as I had hoped. Since it was in Columbia, the concert ended a little before 8 and we had taken the Harley so we were home in a jiffy! Before bed, I got into a Janet E book at stayed up way too late reading especially when Pop brought Diesel home at 5:00am.

A great weekend and a great way to end the summer! Now as we head into fall, I look forward to lots more great times.

Just met a cool, creative gal

and I want to introduce her to all of you.

Background: this morning I woke up with a sore back and since I am going to a concert today, I needed to pop some pills and lay with the heating pad. Which once I checked emails, ebay, and my blog for comments led to some surfing. I then met Linda after I had saved several of her pictures for referring to - I knew I had to share her creativity. Maybe you all know her already. Her scrapbook pages are gorgeous and I look that I would love to try. Two things about her pages that spoke to me - she has children over the age of 20 and she uses some older photos (black and whites and those early color shots that are grainy) I love those. THEN there are her 3D projects which are amazingly gorgeous - they do not look handmade at all. To me they are phenonemal.

I really like her music choices too - they are songs I probably never would have heard. I feel as though I was just invited into her home and she had some candles lit and she made me a cup of tea and she had some music playing and we had a conversation. And she shared some of her creavity with me. It was a wonderful feeling.

I am going to try to add music to my blog - in engages another sense - and makes it feel so much more personal. I am just loving meeting Linda this morning - I think I will get back to her - maybe she will magically pull something out of the oven for us to share.

Some scrapbook pages

I have been trying to upload some scrapbook pages all week and every time the upload sideways (it is really annoying me) I finally got these two to work. These are from a SEI 8.5 by 5.5 album that I have been doing using the pictures of me from when I was little. The size really works well for the smaller size photos that are now 28 years old.

This page - the photo is from my Sweet 16 - a mere 19 years ago. I cased the design from some magazine somewhere - I think Cathy Z. I am pleased with the way these turned out. The other ones (the sideways loading ones) those could use a little help.

I have a fun weekend planned so look for more photos and excitement on Monday. What do you have planned for the weekend??

The only storm I saw was me scrappin' up a storm

So friday all the weather reports called for thunderstorms all weekend around these parts. I thought well that is a good chance for me to do a little scrappin'. Friday night, I settled in, found a good show to watch (Dirty Sexy Money on ABC.com - love the internet for catching shows when I feel like watching) and got out my birthday banner kit from The Button Farm. Got that finished and worked on the Follow Your Bliss - also from The Button Farm. Both turned out so stinkin cute.

Another album/kit/class that I have been working on is the "One Summer"

from Kristy-Sikora-Blankenship or ksb. It it turning out very cute -

but this is the cover - yes I went with very retro

MM letters and well I really am not thrilled with it - Give me

some ideas - what should I do to make it better? I am happy with the little blings on the polka dots but everything else is pooh.

Proud to be an American

Today will forever be one of those days were you reflect on the USA, the world, and your own life. I can distinctly remember so many things about that day. It was a beautiful morning - sun shining. I had pretty much just arrived at work when the radio and internet starting talking about the planes. I came home that night and sat on the couch and watched the news. There just are words to describe the magnitude those events had on our lives. But weirdly, I liked the country that we were in the days following. People put out flags and yellow ribbons. People were a little nicer. We were all so thankful that days started to go by and new tradegies had not occurred. We were working through the pain. Seven years later, we have kind of gone back a little. We are comfortable again. We had other major things happen.

Ernie's little brother is serving - so daily I have a constant reminder that the flags still are flying. That there are yellow ribbons on houses. Ernie misses him so much and it is so hard to have him be away and always worrying that something bad could happen.

On my mind today

This is not even the ride that I rode - Ernie did - he is the one in the last cart!

First things first, I went to Six Flags yesterday and my head is still dizzy. The last ride we went on was this water raft thing - that just spun you around and I swear I have felt dizzy ever since - I am too old for this stuff.

The weekend was the perfect mix for me - Friday night was quiet - Ernie went out and it was just me and Deisel. Saturday morning I hit two small indoor yard sales (not great) but considering tropical storm hanna was blowing into town it was good. I came home just as it started to get bad and walked Deisel. He has gotten into the trash (Bad doggie) while I was gone so I had to walk him - I came in and I was soaked. So I settled into my PJ's and watched some movies, read some magazines, did a lot of scrapbooking, cleaned the house, cooked a peach cobbler, and did laundry. Ernie got home around 9. Sunday we went out to breakfast (Old Country Buffet) - I totally thought I would hate that place - but I love it!! They have a great selection, they have sweet tea and it is pretty cheap! A win for us. We also went to church. Then we went to six flags in the afternoon. That was fun. Except for the spinning.

This past weekend was the third Creative Escape out in Arizona and I have to say I am a little disappointed that I was not there. It seems my friends has a great time. Jessica Guthrie has a great rundown. My dear friend Peg just emailed me an update and showed me her album! I am working on making peace with not attending.

Summer is not over yet...

So my Labor Day weekend was good, laid back, relaxing. Saturday morning I hit yard sales, there weren't that many but I hit one lady who had beautiful clothes, suits, dress pants (yes mar I too am trying to make more of an effort at the office). As I looked thru the rack she had most of the size tags were cut out and when I asked and they were just my size I was so excited!! I got a suit with a shirt that matched, another pant, shirt jacket combo (she had them hanging together like they were an outfit but I just didn't see it), 4 pairs of pants, one shirt, a necklace, and some MK (she was a rep cleaning out some inventory) ALL for $25.00!!!! I was so excited - a good start to my fall wardrobe for less than 1 blouse! I even have one of the outfits on today!! Everything fit except one pair of pants - but I am thinking a little diet and exercise MIGHT help that. The pants all need to be hemmed (anyone local know a place or person to get that done inexpensively???)

Saturday afternoon, I did some card making and scrapping. I also found Lipstick Jungle

on the internet - OOOHH that show is good! I watched the whole season in one day! The clothes the hair their makeup is sooo pretty.

Sunday we went for breakfast with Ernie's parents down to Colonial Beach VA on the Harley. That was a great ride!

Monday - I have been having a lot of back muscle pain lately - I had the best of intentions of getting a ton done on Monday but moving was very painful. Last night I iced it, took some aleve and this morning I put the heating pad on and it feels better. I need to get it looked into but my track record with doctors fixing my problems is just so low.

Now, on to news for you my faithful readers!! I had 53 comments last month (20% of those from M*J*C and 20% from Niki - thanks girls!!) - that was awesome - the comment contest and the new feedjit actually forced me to update more often and to try to think of fun topics. In September, I will cover all the books (like 20 of them all purchased at yard sales) I have been reading lately, I also plan to share some of the things I have been making (mostly cards and a scrapbook page or two), are there any burning questions that you have for me. Post in the comments and I will answer them.

OH and the winner is... Liz (liz send me your address) who was a totally new person to my blog and who only posted once! Yeah! There will be another contest this month - for another great prize.